Halloween Hacks: A radioactive display with more trick than treat

[Shawn] was looking for a way to shake up his decorations this Halloween and decided to build a new prop for his front yard. He had a pair of old oil barrels in his garage and thought they would look great with a little bit of work.

He bolted the pair of barrels together, then slapped a fresh coat of black paint on them before adding a bright yellow radiation trefoil to each one. One barrel contains a pneumatic piston that opens the lid, revealing a light up pumpkin, a fog machine, and a set of water nozzles that spray the area. The second drum houses an air compressor, a wireless router, and an IP camera for recording the action. A web-enabled Arduino triggers the lid and sprayer, both of which can be controlled from the comfort of his house.

We think it’s a creative use of some old scrap barrels, but we’re hoping he doesn’t plan on wetting trick-or-treaters that pass through, as it seems like a good way to get your house egged or otherwise vandalized on Halloween. If the water sprayer were perhaps swapped out with some other cool effects, [Shawn] is far less likely to be the target of some angry, wet teenagers.

Impossible to judge Shawn’s intent with this. For wetting someone down, this looks to be a hit, and miss method of doing so. Probably a sun up or dusk only display, even though he says all night in the video.[shrug]

The water will probably piss those soaked with it off enough to call the cops and report some “contaminated” barrels being misused. As radiophobic as our nation is, it will then be a month before the authorities figure out they aren’t waste drums and release this guy from Gitmo for trying to build a dirty bomb.